Arsene Wenger believes mind games between rival managers are "overrated" and has limited impact on what teams do on the pitch.

Manchester United chief Sir Alex Ferguson last week hit back at Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, whom he accused of "arrogance" and showing "contempt" in the wake of the Spaniard's attitude in dismissing Blackburn once his side had scored their second goal at Anfield.

Benitez has not held back in his tirades at Ferguson this season as the race for the Barclays Premier League title hots up.

Wenger takes his side, who lost their FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday, to Liverpool tomorrow night.

The French coach is no stranger to some verbal sparring during his time in the English game, notably with Ferguson and former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

However, Wenger said: "You want respect in the game, and we managers are responsible for it. I do not want to interfere in that more because I do not know what happened (between Ferguson and Benitez).

"I believe it (mind games) was always something which was overrated a bit.

"But it is part of our environment and part of the media.

"You never know how much impact it has because it is impossible to measure.

"It is a little bit like advertising - it is needed but what impact it has on sales you never know. With mind games it's the same."

Wenger added: "I believe that it can sometimes have a negative impact rather than a positive impact.

"There is a rivalry there and I do not give too much importance to it."

Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor will be rested tomorrow night as he has a slight hamstring problem, while leading scorer Robin van Persie is absent with a groin strain.

Full-back Bacary Sagna has recovered from a virus and could feature at Anfield to boost what has been a makeshift defence, and fit-again Croatia forward Eduardo could come into the attack.

Despite a Wembley nightmare on his 24th birthday, Lukasz Fabianski will again deputise in goal for Manuel Almunia (ankle).

The young Pole, though, continues to have the full support of the Arsenal manager.

"I will just put that down to experience," Wenger said.

"Three days before he had an excellent game in the Champions League against Villarreal and it can happen to anybody."

Arsenal head to Anfield looking to extend their unbeaten Premier League run to 19 matches.

Despite looking safe now in fourth place - a situation which appeared anything but secure earlier in the campaign - Wenger maintains his squad remains focused on finishing off in style as they seek to reach the Champions League final at the expense of holders United.

"We have to accept what happened on Saturday, to deal with it and not repeat it," said Wenger.

"We have many big games coming up and we feel we can win them.

"Winning is what we live for.

"We cannot be happy with only trying to remain fourth.

"We want to get closer to the top and have a good opportunity to come back to six points on Liverpool.

"Third place is important, second place is important and why not first? You never know.

"You do not want to have regrets.

Both Wenger and Ferguson were, meanwhile, in agreement over the state of the playing surface at Wembley, which once again cut up badly.

"You will never see a good football match on a bad pitch. It is like that," said Wenger.

"I just would think they should have to reconsider the whole structure of the pitch. At the moment they can re-lay it every three months and they will always have a bad pitch.

"It is not good enough for the Champions League Final, for the Olympic games, not for the semi-final of an FA Cup.

"Why? Because the first priority is that the pitch is good when you build a new stadium.

"If that is not right, the whole stadium is bad no matter how much money you spend."